Thursday, February 23, 2012

What
a lovely work! Frederick Buechner has graciously and beautifully
written of his early days, his childhood, in a way I've not read before,
and I truly loved it. Buechner's prose and memories evoke many of my
own feelings growing up even though our lives were quite different. He
has a way of "taking you back in time."

Buechner's works are a mix of nonfiction and fiction. His nonfiction works deal primarily on topics of theology and faith. I cannot speak to his works of fiction as I haven't read any of those.

The Sacred Journey was recently handed to me by my brother-in-law with whom I share a love of words and writing. He thought perhaps it would give me another perspective on writing memoir, and it definitely has. In this his first autobiographical book, Buechner writes "[a] child takes life as it comes because he has no other way of taking it." At first, these words were startling to me as I was tossed back to my own childhood and I realized that yes, I took my life then as I did because what else was I to do.

Somehow Buechner crafts his story writing and language in such a way that the reader feels a constant flow of his emotions and transitions. In that way, Buechner takes the reader into his or her own story by reflection. Considering Buechner was a reluctant writer about his life story, he has accomplished what we all hope to do in our writing -- help another see the threads and webs of his or her own story.

I recommend this book to anyone considering or in the process of
writing memoir or a life story as it has a style altogether different
from what we find in bookstores and libraries today of life story
writing.

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Sherrey Meyer, and I'm so glad you dropped by. I am a writer and a retired legal secretary. I have always loved writing, but for almost 40 years did most of my writing in the legal field. Now retired, I'm enjoying writing to share my faith and my hope in God. I hope we can share our stories with one another.

I also am writing a memoir and you can read more about that at my other blog, Letters to Mama, www.sherreyameyer.blogspot.com, or click on the link below.